Miami launch of Moni's Kids project
I finally have a moment to tell you about the event in Miami!
After shipping 25 paintings to the Doubletree Hotel in Biscayne Bay ahead of time (a huge thanks to Fox for storing them in his office and being so helpful throughout the whole process!), Sam and I arrived there on Thursday. This is after my boyfriend/project manager Rich had INSISTED that we be there on Thursday, not Friday, which I thought would be plenty of time. The poor man had put up with quite a bit of complaining from me about being so bossy and setting our itinerary without consulting me first (it's hard to let go of the German control freak in me). Well...there was a reason why he was so insistent, but I wouldn't find out till later.
The hotel and location were gorgeous. The event was held in the Grand Ballroom with a huge patio overlooking Biscayne Bay and out to South Beach along the horizon. Despite being busy doing last minute things for the show, we managed to be tourists as well.
On Friday, I got the biggest surprise of my life: my brother Andreas and his two kids, Lennart and Vivien, arrived all the way from Germany! Rich had planned this for months and had had a very tough time keeping the secret while putting up with my attitude about his conceived bossiness. The man truly deserves a medal! Everybody else around me (including the hotel staff and Nancy Rivard of Airline Ambassadors) knew about the surprise. I can't even describe my feelings when I found out. The fact that my brother and his family would travel so far for such a short time was an incredible show of love and support for me. They had originally planned on spending three and a half days in Miami, which is short enough as it is coming from Europe, but their first flight was cancelled and they ended up with only two and a half days! I have never felt so loved in my life. That the two most important men in my life, my brother and my boyfriend, went to such lengths to support my project, my dream, left me in tears and speechless. My project is named after our late mother, Monika, and I felt that she, too, was present in the ballroom that night with Andy and me.
After breakfast on South Beach and a dip in the ocean for the kids we spent several hours on Saturday hanging the paintings and setting up our display table. The Bon Voyage party for the Cruise 4 Haiti by AAI started at 7pm and even though not as many people attended as we had hoped, we had several sales! All together, seven portraits have been sold (and put on hold), and many good connections were made. And since I didn't mess up too badly during my little speech (will I EVER be comfortable with public speaking??), the evening was a wonderful success.
Sam put together a slideshow with music about our project. You can view it here.
Be sure to turn up your speakers so you can hear one of my favorite songs that I thought was perfect to accompany the photos. (Update: I could not use the song we had chosen on this site, but you can see our intended version on my facebook page here.)
I received so many comments about the portraits and the idea behind the project came across exactly as intended. I watched so many people read the kids' stories displayed next to their paintings, point to the drawings the kids had created behind their faces and ask me about the children. I wish the kids themselves could have been there to see the reaction of the audience! It was heartwarming and reaffirming.
I have added the children's background stories (as much as I had) to the Moni's Kids page on this site instead of adding more on this blog. You can read them below each child's portrait here.
We ended up packing the paintings back into heir boxes and taking them to a 24hr FedEx, so we could spend the whole next day driving down to the Keys and snorkeling. After months of non-stop work it felt fantastic to do nothing but play! To get to do it with my family from Germany, which was so completely unexpected and almost surreal, was even better.
Monday morning started before dawn with all of us heading to two different airports to fly back to our respective homes. We were all exhausted, but so happy about a successful launch of this project.
Now, back home, I have a few commissions to do for Christmas, then I will finish the last 5 portraits in this series of 30 and continue to find homes for them. I will be talking to the New Life Children's Home soon to determine when I might travel back to Haiti and how we will distribute the funds raised. I will keep you posted!
Below are a few photos from our whirlwind weekend.
The three cousins Vivi, Sam and Lenny having a blast at South Beach
Hanging Wisben's portrait with Andy
The Grand Ballroom at the Doubletree Hotel, more paintings were hung in the bar and foyer area
Andy and Rich
with Nancy Rivard of Airline Ambassadors
with the Consul General of Haiti, Ralph Latortue
Sarah picked out Vanessa's portrait, which her mom, Leslie Sosnowski, bought. I think Sam was hoping to keep it for herself, it was her favorite!
Annette Tillemann-Dick of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice and her son Zeke with their portraits of twins Fabien and Fabienne
